Marker Monday: K-9 Training Area, Ft. Robinson

Location: U.S. 20, Harrison, Dawes County, Nebraska; view this marker's location 42.667331, -103.4617Marker Text: In September 1942 the Fort Robinson War Dog Training Center was established. Barracks, classrooms, administrative offices, and other support buildings were located west and north of here. To the east and north was a sprawling kennel area housing 1,800 dogs. The dogs were trained as guard, scout, messenger, and sled dogs. Training normally lasted 8 to 12 weeks. Nearly 5,000 dogs, half the number used by the Army in World War II, were trained here. The center was deactivated in June 1946. Read on: During World War II, Fort Robinson was home to a K-9 Training Center which prepared dogs for use in the military in the war.

Dogs For Defense For centuries, dogs have been used by militaries for various purposes. Germany, Japan and England all had dog units during World War II. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, a group of prominent American civilians created Dogs For Defense, Inc. to convince the military to create its own dog program. The secretary of war created such a program in February of 1942. Almost all of the dogs used in the program, which was coordinated by Dogs For Defense, were donated. By the end of the war, 18,000 dogs were used.

At Fort Robinson Fort Robinson was one of two army bases used to train K-9 units. (The other was Front Royal, Virginia.) Its remote location and connection to the railroad made it an ideal place to train dogs. On October 3, 1942, the K-9 division of Fort Robinson accepted its first shipment of dogs. Several days later, the first trainees arrived. Both civilian and military trainers were used to train military personnel how to use the dogs. Each trainee had to feed and groom his own set of dogs. After two weeks of basic training, the trainees and dogs were sorted into different groups for specialized training, which took four to six weeks. The primary use for the dogs was as sentries or attack dogs. These dogs had to be trained to get used to gunfire and violence. Other dogs served as scouts, messengers or sled dogs. The biggest risk of working with dogs was dog bites. Corporal George Henne was bitten several times while at the Fort. “[Corporal Henne] found that it does not pay to hold your hand in front of one of the trained dogs too long,” a newspaper reported. Many of the dogs were sent to guard bases and Prisoner of War camps, while others were sent overseas. At the height of operations in 1944, Fort Robinson had 1,353 dogs on hand and had deployed 3,565. The people who donated the dogs often wrote to see how their dogs were doing. The staff usually responded to the letters. One eleven year-old asked “if I can put a star in my window because I gave you my dog.” The program was ended after war came to a close.